


Moon Boy and Space Kid

by marsakat



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Space, First Kiss, First Meetings, M/M, Moon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-08
Updated: 2016-12-08
Packaged: 2018-09-07 06:03:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8786260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marsakat/pseuds/marsakat
Summary: Josh has always wanted to go to the Moon.  Tyler's lived there his whole life and is getting a little bored.  Nothing like meeting someone new to change your perspective.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [troubledsouls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/troubledsouls/gifts).



> This story goes out to my buddy Josh who did all his homework and came up with this awesome AU idea.

Josh had been dreaming of going to space ever since his father had pointed at the Moon and said there was a whole city on its surface.  Four-year-old Josh had looked up in wonder, squinting his eyes until the Moon was nothing but a sliver, trying to distinguish people or buildings in the Sea of Tranquility.  He was fixated on space, learning everything he could about the planets and galaxies lightyears away, staring up into the sky and imagining adventures far, far away from home. 

When he was nine, his school had a pen pal exchange with another school on the Moon, and Josh was ecstatic to be connected with another child who lived in the place where he wanted to be so badly.  He carefully drafted his letter with every question he ever had about living in space, and it went on for page after page.  What do they see in the sky? How do they know when it’s nighttime?  Do they hop extra high?  Can you swim on the Moon?

A boy wrote him back, and it seemed like he was very unmotivated to learn about life on Earth or even answer the many questions Josh had asked him.  Just his name, age, and a quick narrative of his day—obviously something that his teacher had told him to write.  Though disappointed, Josh hung onto the letter, reading in wonder about waking up to an artificial sunrise, virtual reality classrooms to have the children experience what Earth-life is like, and how much the boy hated Moon-bananas, hoping they taste better on Earth. 

‘ _they don’t_ ’ Josh had responded, but received no answer from the boy. 

The letter quickly slipped from his mind and Josh continued to be obsessed with space and what was _out there_.  His parents weren’t rich enough to send him there as a school exchange, and vacation to the Moon was definitely out of the question.  The only way for him to get there would to volunteer to work on the Moon. 

It was obvious Josh wouldn’t be chosen to do any sort of scientific or engineering work up there.  He wasn’t stupid by any means, but he wasn’t meant for an academic or research-focused life.  The only option besides winning the lottery was to sign up for what was essentially a glorified janitorial job in the ‘City Under the Bubble’.  Essentially non-existent pay, but free room and board, trip to the Moon, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Josh did two things upon turning 18; sign up for the work program, and get a tattoo of a galaxy upon his deltoid.  And all his accumulated life prayers came true; he was accepted to go to the Moon after a six-week training program.  His mom cried after hearing he’d be leaving the planet at least for a couple years—though Josh assured her he wouldn’t _stay_ up there forever, but in the back of his mind he made sure not to promise that.  It wasn’t that life sucked so bad on Earth—it just was that there was so much else _out there_.

He put more effort into the training course than anything else he’d even done in life, especially school.  Josh learned everything he could about what the instructors told them, since the program was geared to be educational as well.  He stayed up late every night reading all the extra books the teachers recommended.  But that still did not satiate his desire to _experience_ what it was like to be there.  But finally, he would be going.

* * *

Tyler had lived on the Moon for his whole life and the novelty had worn off many, many years before.  He didn’t hate it by any means—nah, he loved his home and never planned on leaving—it was just that the wonder of it all had faded and life so far away from the rest of humanity was normal for everyone there.  It was a bit claustrophobic to know pretty much everyone who lived on the Moon, but he figured it was just like living in a small town, with no added benefit of being able to drive away.  Actually, Tyler didn’t know how to drive a car, but he could drive a lunar rover.  After complaining to his friends way too often, he was told to apply to be a Moon Ambassador—a fancy term for tour guide/mentor for new people arriving on the Moon.

Tyler didn’t think of himself as the most outgoing person, but he got to know a whole lot of people all over the city.  He enjoyed it overall, but what really made the difference was the person he was showing around.  There were the rich jerks that paraded around like they owned the place and all the residents were just animals in a zoo for them to take photos of—not like Tyler had ever been to a zoo except in the virtual reality rooms, but he got the point.  What was the point to taking pictures of people taking out the garbage or getting coffee in the morning? 

The scientists were only marginally better depending on how much of a personality they were willing to show.  Sometimes they were shy or awkward and Tyler didn’t fault them for that, it just made his job a tad difficult when people didn’t laugh at his jokes.  But then again, there were always those ‘highly acclaimed’ researchers that babbled in highly technical terms and looked down their noses at him if Tyler didn’t know the answer to a question.  How the heck was he supposed to know about the polymers comprising the heating system?  That wasn’t covered in the ‘Ambassador’s Training Manual.  Seriously, where do people get off on being such dicks?

He’d just gotten finished with showing one of the latter types around for four days when a new shipment of visitors had arrived.  Tyler begrudgingly put on the violet vest all the Ambassadors had to wear for the first meeting, (he changed his mind—that was the worst thing about this job) and waited at the docking station with the others.  Everyone had to grab a placard with a visitor’s name on it and hold it up when the group arrived; about twenty of them. 

This shipment was mostly new work program volunteers, with a couple rich tourists tagging along for the flight.  Tyler had never been a guide for the volunteers, though he knew a couple just as casual acquaintances.  They always seemed to pick very eager people for that program, so at least they would be entertained by his tour featuring some terrible puns.

‘ _Joshua Dun’_ was the name on the card, and Tyler had no feelings either way until he saw the group approaching and one emerald haired head stood out in the crowd.  Tyler somehow knew that was going to be his guy, and sure enough his assignment jogged straight towards him.

“Hi! I’m—” he pointed at the sign, “Josh!  What’s your name?”

“I’m Tyler, your, uh, friendly lunar guide,” Tyler never really knew how to introduce himself.

“Cool!”  Josh beamed at him, and Tyler realized after the initial rush of meeting this guy that, oh jeez he was attractive.  This was going to be a tough week, because Tyler was completely starved for hot eye candy, which was minimal on the moon.

“So, um, lemme show you around.  We’ll go to your room first and then I’ll give you a tour of the city.”

Josh stared everywhere open-mouthed, but thankfully he did not take photos of stupid things.  He asked a lot of questions, but Tyler somehow found it wasn’t irritating to be asked for the millionth time by a visitor what it was like to grow up so far away from Earth.  Maybe it was just that Josh asked so nicely and looked so interested—Tyler couldn’t be blamed for enjoying having a cute guy hanging onto his every word.

Their conversations got deep quickly as Tyler showed him around the shopping area, and Tyler felt like it was just…easy to tell Josh about the sense of loneliness, isolation, and general ‘missing out’ he had experienced for most of his life.  Josh placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, and Tyler panicked a little that he was giving his home a bad impression.

“That’s not to say—I love it up here!  I could’ve always left if I really wanted to.  A lot of my family lives down on Earth, but I dunno.  This is home to me,” Tyler said quickly.

Josh nodded, “It’s just…something I’ve never thought about.  Your perspective at least.  I’ve been waiting to come up here my whole life and it’s interesting to hear from someone that’s always been here. Now I kinda miss my home, but I’d rather be away.”

“Hey!” Tyler was struck by a sudden idea, something he’d never shown any of his other visitors, “Wanna see something cool?”

“Dude, everything you’ve shown me is cool!” Josh smiled again, and Tyler’s heart began to flutter.

“Okay, so don’t tell anyone about where I’m going to take you, but this is where all the, like, young people hang out.  It’s awesome.”

Tyler grabbed Josh by the hand and took him through a labyrinth of passages and tunnels that seemed to go on forever until they ended up in front of a heavy door with a keypad.

“Turn around,” Tyler told Josh, mainly just to peak at his butt, but also to quickly tap in the code to this area.  “Okay, so be really careful when you first step in here.  It may be a bit disorienting but you’re safe and I’m here.  Go slow, okay?”

Josh stepped and _bounced_ , “What the!” he shouted as he came lightly back down to the ground, “What happened to the gravity?”

“The gravity field doesn’t extend to this area so this is just the moon’s gravity!” Tyler bounced over to him, “Look up.”

Josh did and gasped at the view through the windows on the ceiling, where the inky blackness of space surrounded the partial view of the globe that was Home.  And it hit him.  Josh was 238, 900 miles away from Earth, leaping to the pull of the Moon.  He made it.  He felt a rush of emotions welling up in his eyes and throat and he turn away from Tyler to hide how close he was to overwhelmed tears.  And Tyler seemed to understand that this was a moment too immense for words, to let Josh just relish in it and pretend like he didn’t see him wipe at his eyes a little.

They were inseparable over the next week and Tyler was so relieved Josh would be staying for a good long while.  Fast friends, Tyler’s usual crowd made quiet comments to him about his ‘new boyfriend’ that Tyler would scoff at and then immediately think of another fun Moon fact to tell Josh.  He took Josh everywhere, and was sad when other orientation activities dragged Josh away.

* * *

At the end of the week, Josh handed Tyler an old folded up piece of paper. 

“I brought this in my luggage and I thought—I thought you may want to read it.  I just remembered I had it and…well, you’ll see,” Josh explained and Tyler unfolded to see his own handwriting.

“Wait!  How did you? Where is this from?”  Tyler glanced over the letter, remembering how many different times the teachers had forced them to write letters to kids on Earth as pen pals.  Some of his other friends kept contact with those people, but he got sick of writing letter after letter.

“I think you wrote to me in school,” Josh grinned, “How cool is it that we got to meet?”

Tyler smiled back, deciding not to tell him about all the other copies there were of similar letters, “So sick!”  This had to be fate

“It’s been really awesome showing you around this week,” Tyler said later.  They’d gone out with Tyler’s friends to one of the few ‘bars’ that other young people hung out at, and were heading back to sleep.  There was a fork in the corridor that led one way to Josh’s dorm and the other to Tyler’s apartment where they paused and looked at each other.

“Yeah.  Thanks a lot, man,” Josh clapped him on the shoulder, “You’ve been such a good ‘lunar guide’.”

“Tell my boss that,” Tyler smiled, dancing a little on the inside that Josh was touching him, and _gosh_ why’d he have to act like a little kid with a crush?

“We can still hang out and stuff?  You’re not gonna ignore me and stuff cuz I’m one of the ‘visitors’, right?”

“Of course not!” Tyler said emphatically, “Never! You’re like the coolest guy I’ve met in…years.”

“You too,” Josh shyly looked away, “Can we...  Ugh, I don’t want to be too forward, but, um, I’ve been getting some vibes and…”

He trailed off and Tyler got worried, “Uh, what kind of vibes?”

“I really like you, Tyler, and I don’t want to rush things just cuz we met and everything’s so crazy right now, but, um…”

“I _really_ like you, Josh” Tyler’s heart was racing, palms getting sweaty.  Was this actually happening?

“Dude, I like you, like you,” Josh was turning bright red, which Tyler concluded was very adorable.

“Yeah, well I _really really_ like you,” Tyler stepped closer, looking right into Josh’s eyes, “Can I kiss you?”

Josh didn’t respond, just pressed their lips together until they were standing in the middle of the (very public) corridor, making out.  Tyler felt like he’d stepped into a fantasy, how can they already be at this stage?  It was like…everything clicked and worked and this was just meant to happen.

A cough behind them startled the two out of their little world; some middle-aged lady was waiting for them to move out of the way so she could walk down her hallway.  They leapt apart and looked sheepishly at one another once her footsteps became inaudible.

“Okay…okay,” Josh said a little out of breath, tugging on his hair, “This is cool.  We’re on the same page?”

“Yeah,” Tyler licked his lips a little, wanting Josh’s back upon his.

“So, um, I’ve gotta wake up early for work, but um…afterward can I take you out? I don’t know where’s best to eat and I don’t have any groceries in my dorm, but we can—”

“I’ll pick the place,” Tyler pressed a quick kiss to Josh’s mouth, “Don’t worry, we’re gonna have a date that’s…out of this world.”

Tyler smirked and Josh groaned, “ugh, not another Moon pun.”

Life in space was better than Josh could ever have imagined.

**Author's Note:**

> teeentyonepilots on tumblr. Come prompt me!


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